Roger Long
Senior Member
Is anyone here following the FL bill to further regulate TowboatUS and SeaTow that was introduced by Dana Young? Does anyone know of experiences that might justify this?
I have nothing but very good things to say about TowboatUS although I did have one strange experience in VA.
I was towed quite a long distance after an engine failure in my sailboat. A couple days later, I got a call from the towing captain saying that I owed him a couple of grand. I pointed out that I had an invoice from him that I signed when he was alongside that read “$0.00” at the bottom. He said that was between me and BoatUS, they had paid the maximum, and I owed him the balance of his costs. I said that I would have to talk to headquarters. He said (as best I remember), “Talk to whoever you want but this is between you and me. I know where you are. I’ll have the sherriff tie your boat to the dock, kick you off, and we can talk about this in court a couple of years from now when it gets onto the court calendar. I’ll wait. Meanwhile, your boat will be unattended at a dock somewhere.” I told him to suck an egg.
I called TowboatUS and they jumped right on it. They even sent me copies of their emails to their new franchisee. They basically said that if he ever tried something like that again with a customer they would yank his franchise so fast his head would still be spinning when they hauled him into court for breech of their contract with him. I tied up next to the towboat a few times in the next couple of years and the owner never said a word to me.
https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler-news/florida-law-salvage
I have nothing but very good things to say about TowboatUS although I did have one strange experience in VA.
I was towed quite a long distance after an engine failure in my sailboat. A couple days later, I got a call from the towing captain saying that I owed him a couple of grand. I pointed out that I had an invoice from him that I signed when he was alongside that read “$0.00” at the bottom. He said that was between me and BoatUS, they had paid the maximum, and I owed him the balance of his costs. I said that I would have to talk to headquarters. He said (as best I remember), “Talk to whoever you want but this is between you and me. I know where you are. I’ll have the sherriff tie your boat to the dock, kick you off, and we can talk about this in court a couple of years from now when it gets onto the court calendar. I’ll wait. Meanwhile, your boat will be unattended at a dock somewhere.” I told him to suck an egg.
I called TowboatUS and they jumped right on it. They even sent me copies of their emails to their new franchisee. They basically said that if he ever tried something like that again with a customer they would yank his franchise so fast his head would still be spinning when they hauled him into court for breech of their contract with him. I tied up next to the towboat a few times in the next couple of years and the owner never said a word to me.
https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler-news/florida-law-salvage